By Nick Butler

ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta alongside IOC President Thomas Bach attending short track speed-skating events during Sochi 2014 ©Getty ImagesMarch 26 - A series of measures have been proposed by International Skating Union (ISU) President Ottavio Cinquanta in order to reform figure skating and speed skating in the wake of criticism over the judging and composition of each sport. 


In a letter to members of the ISU's Governing Council as well as to various technical committees, reprted by the Chicago Tribune and various newspapers in the Netherlands, Cinquanta outlines various "personal opinions" which he requests are given "serious consideration".

In figure skating, this involves scrapping the short programme which forms the first half of each competition because "no other sports are based on two segments".

The 75-year-old would also make all dances across singles, pairs, dance and team performances last the same time, while the scoring system would be simplified to make it more understandable.

While short-track speed skating would be left unscathed, the two longest long-track speed skating events, 5,000 metres for women and 10,000 for men, would be removed because they are  "not attractive distances for the majority of the skaters and television viewers." 

As has been pioneered at the Winter Youth Olympic Gamess, Cinquanta is also keen to add a mass start event, while his letter proposed changing the Olympic track size from 400 to 250 metres because of the cost of building facilities to accommodate the larger rink.

His revised Olympic programme would also eliminate the 1,000m and turn the 500m into a single race rather than the aggregate time of two, and he added that with these changes there would no longer be a need for the sport's oldest competition, the World All-Around Championships, or the World Sprint Championships.

With four medals Ireen Wust was one of the biggest Dutch stars at Sochi 2014...and she has since won her fourth successive world all round title ©Getty ImagesWith four medals Ireen Wust was one of the biggest Dutch stars at Sochi 2014...and she has since won her fourth successive world all round title ©Getty Images



These proposed changes come after fears over the extent of domination by the Netherlands during last month's Olympics, with the European nation winning 23 of 32 possible medals and eight of 12 possible golds,

This is "a sign of high concern", claimed Cinquanta, who proposes limiting the amount of skaters in each event to two to avoid the Dutch clean sweeps and the 1-2-3-4 finishes seen at Sochi 2014. 

The Olympics was also tainted by more criticism of figure skating judging - an issue that has dogged Cinquanta throughout his 20 years at the helm of the ISU - with a petition protesting the results of the ladies competition gaining over two million supporters and an official complaint from the South Korean Olympic Committee. 

After defending champion Kim Yuna was surprisingly beaten by Russia's Adelina Sotnikova, it emerged that one of the nine judges, Ukraine's Yuri Balkov, had previously been suspended for a year after being recorded trying to fix an event at Nagano 1998.

Another judge, Alla Shekhovtseva, is the wife of the former President and current general director of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Valentin Piseev.

But, in his letter, Cinquanta also maintains that the judges scoring should remain anonymous so that "nobody can detect which score has been decided by which judge".

Yuna Kim was somewhat surprisingly beaten by Adelina Sotnikova in Sochi ©Getty ImagesYuna Kim was somewhat surprisingly beaten by Adelina Sotnikova in Sochi ©Getty Images



With Cinquanta having announced last year that he would step down as President at the ISU Congress in 2016, these measures can be taken as an attempt to leave a personal legacy on the sport long after his departure.

This is something he referred to in the letter when he wrote that "many of us might conclude their sport career, at least the one with the ISU", in 2016. 

But Cinquanta also added that he feels the proposed changes are "the most important initiatives for the future of the ISU."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2014: 
Korean Olympic Committee to file official complaint after Kim Yu-Na's shock Sochi 2014 silver
February 2014: Online petition calls for investigation over figure skating judges after Sotnikova gold
February 2014: Dutch net second clean sweep in speed skating as remarkable run continues
October 2013: Cinquanta to step down as International Skating Union President in 2016